Living Outside the Stacks

Weekly Wrap~Up:  Give Up the Gossip

Last week’s IMG Cleanse assignment was to give up gossip and spend the week speaking love, truth and respect into the lives of the people we encounter.  Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this assignment.  For the most part I was able to avoid celebrity gossip by turning the TV channel when something salacious came on but, you know what, it’s not so easy to flip the channel when you’re talking or listening to someone.  It’s even harder when people provide you with so much material.  Seriously, it was like going on a diet and banning your favorite food and then getting invited to a dinner party and the only thing being served is the forbidden food.  I survived it.  Barely.  But I will continue to work on this challenge because thinking about my words before I said them made me much more aware of the power of my words.

This Week’s Challenge:  Give Up Comparisons

I think my Inner Mean Girl is bi~polar, one minute she’s telling me that I don’t measure up:  ”It’s just a matter of time before they figure out you’re a fraud!”  and the next minute she’s proclaiming my virtues:  ”Oh, honey, you totally rocked it tonight, they couldn’t keep their eyes off you.” More often than not my Inner Mean Girl likes to attack my professional and social skills because those are the two areas where I’m the most confident and the most fearful.  That’s why I believe this week’s challenge is going to be difficult for me.  I mean, I’m teaching a course that I’ve never taught before and I’m trying to step out of my comfort zone as far as meeting people and becoming more social.  That’s a lot of pressure.

The challenge for this week is to stop comparing myself to others and become secure in the knowledge that I am enough the way that I am.  The goal is to turn the negatives in the positives by using:

• Inspiration ~ use the person I think is better than I am to inspire me to be better; ask them for guidance in how they’re accomplishing their goals, etc.
• Appreciation ~ acknowledge the good that I see in others and in myself
• Gratitude ~ be thankful for all the blessings that I have in my life

My Bible truth for this challenge comes from Galatians 6:4~5 (NIV):  ”Each one should test his own actions.  Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.”

Do you have an Inner Mean Girl who’s constantly comparing you to others? How do you silence her?

Disclosure:  I am participating in the Inner Mean Girl 40~Day Cleanse as a Self~Love Ambassador.  To thank me for my participation, I will receive a self~love gift from the founders of the Inner Mean Girl Reform School.

I have the research skills of a librarian, the preservation skills of an archivist, the organizational skills of a mother and the domestic skills of a Stepford wife. I have the research skills of a librarian, the preservation skills of an archivist, the organizational skills of a mother and the domestic skills of a Stepford wife. Read more from this author